A TANK AWAY FROM TOLEDO OR COLUMBUS
December 31, 2009-January 2, 2010
We were part of a group of 18 having New Year's Eve dinner followed by live entertainment at White Oak Inn in Danville, Ohio http://www.bbonline.com/oh/whiteoak/
On January 1, we explored snow-dusted gently rolling hills of central Ohio, and
visited Warsaw, http://www.warsawohio.us/
Dresden, in the 19th century an important trading town on the Ohio and Erie Canal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden,_Ohio
and Coschoton http://www.cityofcoshocton.com/
including Roscoe Village http://www.roscoevillage.com/

ter•rif•ic adjective date: 1667
Etymology: Latin terrificus, from terrēre to frighten
1 a: very bad : FRIGHTFUL b: exciting or fit to excite fear or awe
2: EXTRAORDINARY 3: unusually fine : MAGNIFICENT
http://m-w.com/dictionary/terrific

Bans, boycotts and censorship may be an individual or group decision.
For nearly the entire history of film production, certain films have been either boycotted by political and religious groups or literally banned by a regime for political or moral reasons. Paradoxically, banning a movie often completely fails to achieve its intention of preventing a movie from being seen—the publicity given worldwide to banned films often results in it being given attention it might not otherwise receive.
http://wapedia.mobi/en/List_of_banned_films
Banned books and authors http://www.banned-books.com/bblist.html
You will know most of the authors; the books are divided into two sections because of the great number of them.
Banned music, a nine-page article
http://blogcritics.org/books/article/banned-music/

For Christmas, I received The Help by Kathryn Stockett, a first novel about housekeepers in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The book was rejected 45 times by publishers before being published by G.F. Putnam's Sons and then spending over half of 2009 on best-seller lists. I recommend you read this book, and then read" Kathryn Stockett, in her own words" at the end.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1937562,00.html

Photos of library cats from around the world Thanks, Maria.
http://lovemeow.com/2010/01/library-cats-from-all-over-the-world/
Kings Park, New York and Sylvania, Ohio readers (you know who you are): What cat do you think of when you see the cat from Kansas?

British poet William Ernest Henley is most famous for the poem Invictus. See his 137 poems by doing a Google search such as henley 137 poems.

A possible New Year's resolution would be to memorize short poems or quotes on a periodic basis. You could even keep a list if you were so inclined. I'm not good at memorizing, but this one from a folk tale appeals to me: The swiftest thing in the world is thought. The sweetest thing in the world is sleep. The richest thing in the world is earth, for out of the earth come all the riches of the world.

Quotes
Is not this the true romantic feeling--not to desire to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping you.
Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938) American author

When the days are too short chances are you are living at your best.
Earl Nightingale (1921-1989) American radio commentator, personal development and self-help speaker

The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for.
Louis L'Amour, born Louis Dearborn LaMoore (1908 -1988) American author

Iceland is part of Europe, and Greenland is part of North America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_continent_(data_file)
Notice that the following list of countries by continent omits Greenland.
http://www.worldatlas.com/cntycont.htm

It's still January, it's still cold, I still live in the north, but it's easy to see that every day there is more daylight. Viva the four seasons.